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For the past decade and more, a single capture team in the remote east of Russia, on the southern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, has been removing an average of 20 live beluga whales a year from the summer feeding population in Sakhalinsky Bay.

Date created: August 22, 2014
Last updated: January 8, 2020

AWI has previously reported on Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut importing five beluga whales from MarineLand in Canada.

Date created: January 3, 2022
Last updated: January 3, 2022

On June 5, a 3-week-old female beluga at Georgia Aquarium died. Just over a month later, another 3-week-old female beluga—born prematurely—died at SeaWorld San Antonio. The Georgia Aquarium birth had been hailed as a milestone, “the first viable calf to be born from parents who were born in human care.”

Date created: September 18, 2015
Last updated: January 9, 2020

Little White and Little Grey, two young belugas originally captured from Russia’s Okhotsk Sea and held in a dolphinarium in Shanghai, China, for a decade, are now the first residents in the world’s first cetacean seaside sanctuary, in Vestmannaeyj

Date created: December 17, 2020
Last updated: December 17, 2020

John Hargrove was the first of several former orca trainers to appear in Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s documentary Blackfish. A 14-year veteran of SeaWorld, he was a top trainer there until August 2012. Hargrove was working at the company's San Antonio park when Dawn Brancheau was killed in February 2010 in Orlando by Tilikum, Seaworld’s 12,000-pound male orca. He was a first-hand witness to the behind-the-scenes reactions to this tragedy and the corporate response.

Date created: June 2, 2015
Last updated: April 24, 2024
… thousands of elephants in Africa each year has motivated people around the world to demand greater efforts to protect … Our intent is to make a very serious examination of how KWS makes rangers. We are scrutinizing the infrastructure … how these might apply to KWS. Although there are many important similarities between KWS and USMC training …
Date created: April 1, 2016
Last updated: January 15, 2020

Eggs are a staple of the Western diet. In the United States, 94 percent of Americans report consuming them, and annual egg consumption averages around 280 per person. In 2022, around 109.5 billion eggs were produced in the United States. 

Date created: December 15, 2023
Last updated: December 22, 2023
A new documentary, Long Gone Wild, marketed as the follow-up to the 2013 blockbuster Blackfish, is making the film festival rounds and is available on several streaming services.
Date created: October 10, 2019
Last updated: January 23, 2020

Most people intuitively know that animals can think, have social lives, and emotions. Yet, when people are asked to provide evidence for their convictions, they struggle. How do we adequately describe something about another species when we can hardly describe it in our own? In his new book, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, Carl Safina has given us this evidence, in an expansive and passionate narrative.

Date created: December 31, 2015
Last updated: April 24, 2024
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) applauds the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service for proposing Tuesday to repeal two rules that undermine the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Date created: October 27, 2021
Last updated: January 18, 2024
The White House Council on Environmental Quality released today its final phase II rule updating regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our country’s basic charter for the protection of the environment.
Date created: April 30, 2024
Last updated: September 5, 2024
The Biden administration has released three Endangered Species Act regulations that reinstate some critical protections for imperiled species and their habitats, yet fail to reverse many of the dangerous rollbacks implemented by the previous administration.
Date created: March 29, 2024
Last updated: September 5, 2024

The Biden administration announced in June that it would suspend all leases and leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) until it completes a comprehensive environmental review of the program under the National Environmenta

Date created: August 19, 2021
Last updated: April 17, 2024
President Joe Biden signed the Big Cat Public Safety Act today, officially ending the dangerous trade in pet big cats and ensuring that no more cubs are ripped from their mothers at birth to be traumatized for profit.
Date created: December 20, 2022
Last updated: December 20, 2022
President Joe Biden has signed into law the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes a number of conservation provisions designed to strengthen the United States’ ability to protect marine species and ecosystems.
Date created: December 28, 2022
Last updated: December 28, 2022

Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. (SCBT), one of the world’s largest suppliers of antibodies derived from the blood of animals (goats and rabbits), has been cited by USDA veterinary inspectors for apparent egregious violations of the Animal Welfare Act, dating back to at least July 2007.

Date created: February 19, 2013
Last updated: January 15, 2020
… much higher living standards compared to a domestic house cat,” said Representative McKeon. “When accidents happen and … a 911 call and are surprised to come face to face with a Bengal tiger. This bill will ensure that these endangered … will move swiftly to pass this important bill. … Big Cat Act Needed to Protect Felines and Families …
Date created: March 16, 2012
Last updated: February 2, 2022
The Big Cat Public Safety Act is an urgently needed solution to the problem of big cats kept as pets in unsafe and abusive circumstances. Wild animals imprisoned in basements or backyards not only suffer immensely, but also pose a serious risk to the safety of the surrounding community.
Date created: May 13, 2019
Last updated: March 29, 2023
The Animal Welfare Institute commends today’s reintroduction of the Big Cat Public Safety Act in the US Senate.
Date created: April 19, 2021
Last updated: January 18, 2024

While populations of top marine predator fish like tuna, billfish and sharks plummet, Stanford University researchers have found that anchovies, sardines, and other small fish are at an equal or greater risk of suffering a collapse.

Date created: October 3, 2011
Last updated: January 8, 2020
This month, a committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is scheduled to determine whether long-tailed macaques (LTMs) should continue to be classified as “endangered” on its Red List of Threatened Species, a decision that could either reinforce hard-won protections or ease restrictions for the lucrative primate trade.
Date created: June 5, 2024
Last updated: September 5, 2024

The grizzly bear—sometimes referred to as the “great bear”—is a study in contrasts: powerful yet vulnerable, long-studied but mysterious, admired and feared.

Date created: April 19, 2022
Last updated: April 25, 2022

As apex predators, sharks play a vital role in global marine ecosystems.

Date created: June 21, 2017
Last updated: April 24, 2024

To facilitate better information about the co-occurrence of child abuse and animal abuse, Representatives Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) and John Katko (R-NY) introduced the Child and Animal Abuse Detection and Reporting Act of 2019.

Date created: July 1, 2019
Last updated: April 17, 2024
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) commend US Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV), David Schweikert (R-AZ), and Steve Cohen (D-TN) for reintroducing today the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act to prohibit costly and inhumane helicopter roundups of wild horses.
Date created: May 24, 2023
Last updated: May 24, 2023